A new 'Cut the Carbon' publicity campaign is being planned by ConstructionSkills to raise awareness amongst SMEs and retrofit companies of the urgent need to invest in future skills.

The move was welcomed by Chief Construction Adviser Paul Morrell as the industry’s Low Carbon Construction Innovation and Growth Team (IGT) today published its Emerging Findings report.

By 2020 construction will be a low carbon industry. In order to survive, companies need to become carbon clever and develop their knowledge, skills and expertise – or risk losing out.

ConstructionSkills’ three-year, industry-wide, Cut the Carbon campaign will launch in the Autumn of 2010 and run across England, Scotland and Wales, helping to raise companies’ awareness of the legislation, the timelines and the new opportunities presented by the low carbon agenda. Practical support and training will also be available to help companies gear up for the changes needed to the industry’s skills base.

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) and the National Specialist Contractors Council (NSCC) have already pledged their support for the campaign. Other industry bodies and organisations working to help meet low carbon targets are urged to do the same.

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As Mark Farrar, Chief Executive of ConstructionSkills, commented: "We are all aware that the carbon clock is ticking but some sectors are better prepared than others. The construction industry’s major players are already planning for a low carbon future, which is why Year One of the campaign will focus on businesses where awareness is lower - helping small and medium sized companies and the retrofit and infrastructure sectors to become carbon clever."

Chief Construction Adviser Paul Morrell welcomed the campaign, saying: "As the IGT emerging findings highlight, few businesses have an accurate understanding of the sheer scale of the undertaking ahead. The Cut the Carbon campaign will make an important contribution in raising understanding and in encouraging companies to start developing the skills and expertise they need to deliver low carbon, energy efficient buildings."

The IGT Emerging Findings report sets out very clearly that over the next 40 years, the Low Carbon Transition Plan is virtually a business plan for construction. In his analysis Paul Morrell refers to the industry’s lack of understanding of the scale of the undertaking and to a key barrier being the "growing need for a general up-skilling of people in all parts of the supply chain to address the design, construction and operation of low carbon, energy efficient buildings".

In partnership with other leading industry bodies, ConstructionSkills is already responding to these challenges. ConstructionSkills has set up a Future Skills Unit to address emerging skills needs; it is working with other Sector Skills Councils, through the Built Environment Skills Alliance, to develop occupational standards and qualifications and it is launching the Cut the Carbon campaign.

(GK/BMcC)